A Return to Obon

 

7/18/26 Obon festival, Seattle Betsuin Temple, Central District

As a child and teen, I looked forward to Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple’s annual Obon festival every summer. For my friends and me back then, it was mostly about socializing, dancing (traditional folk dances) and eating street food, but the festival itself has religious roots related to honoring deceased loved ones (I gave my shorthand of the roots in this 2016 post). This year, of course, I had more reason to go than usual and especially to attend the formal service that precedes the festivities. (Aside: As I listened to the minister talk about Obon, I realized it’s quite similar to El Día de los Muertos in intention and spirit.)

When I was young, the lead dance instructor barked out strict rules of dress and conduct during rehearsals: No blue jeans! No short pants! No tennis shoes! No chewing gum! We were to wear only traditional kimono or happi festival jackets over dark pants. Now participants wear anything they want, and I enjoy seeing the mix of styles.

I continued attending Obon annually as an adult, and Greg had loved participating as much as I did. He enjoyed and appreciated the small-community feeling, and of course, we both enjoyed the food and socializing. For a long period, though, we kept missing Obon because it always seemed to coincide with the many Urban Sketchers Symposiums we attended or other travel. Then COVID happened, followed by Greg’s worsening dementia, and I realized last Saturday that I hadn’t been to Obon since 2017. No wonder I had missed it so.

Taiko drumming, usually performed by Seattle Betsuin's own taiko group, is a highlight of the festivities.

Attending with a friend since elementary school, we reminisced about simultaneously dreading/hoping to see certain boys (middle school) and how the kori (shave ice or snow cones in other parlance) we just paid $7 for used to cost 75 cents. We caught up with another friend we went to middle school with and had danced with at many Obon. She introduced us to her grandkids in tow. Much reminiscing commenced.

Obon is where we count time by decades as much as by years.

Phinney Market Life

 

7/17/26 Phinney Farmers Market

In keeping with my vow, I’m trying to get back into visiting more neighborhood farmers markets, and Phinney has always been one of my favorites. Always fun and relaxing to sketch, the scheduled musicians and buskers are a mainstay. I have a new personal challenge this year: Try to capture as many dogs as I can!

Distracted by all the smells, noises and movements, dogs are extra challenging to sketch in the market environment, but that’s what makes them fun to go after – sometimes literally. The dog on the lower part of the first page was walking around the market with its human, so I followed behind until I could get its whole figure – though not very well (the seated pup was much easier)! But there’s still plenty of summer left to practice.

Late Start

 

7/17/26 Maple Leaf neighborhood

What a slacker: Here I am in the latter half of July, and this is only my first urban couch of the season! I’ve seen a few the past couple of months, but every time, I was driving by and on my way to an appointment or other plans, so I couldn’t stop. Finally, this one was on my walking route, when I couldn’t help but sketch it. To shake things up, I tried a negative drawing approach – fun!

I’m warmed up now – bring on the couches!

Community

 

4/23/26

4/2/26

Although I didn’t know any of its members well, I miss Greg’s community at Aegis Living’s memory care unit (euphemistically called Life’s Neighborhood). Visiting Greg as often as I did, I got to know his co-residents’ quirks. When I noticed that they had fresh haircuts or new clothes, I made a point of complimenting them. If we made eye contact, I greeted them by name (just as all the staff did). In bits and pieces, usually from staff members I chatted with, I learned about their lives before they came to Aegis: “Dr. Russ” (as everyone called him) had been a physician; Jamie a principle architect in one of Seattle’s major firms; Sandy a physical education teacher and horse rider; Linda a pianist. Many died while Greg was in residence there; many others moved in. One was taken abruptly by her family to another facility.

5/13/26

5/28/26

All declined significantly during the time that I knew them. Very few had regular visitors. All will die fairly soon, and I’m sad that I will not learn that news.

A couple of sketches here are of some of the musicians who come through on rotation every two weeks during “happy hour.” I often wondered how they felt performing for an audience whose members were often dozing and not responding much to invitations to sing along. Applause was quiet. I always applauded enthusiastically because I did appreciate their music lifting the energy in the room (or at least lifting mine).

5/31/26

6/2/26

Most of all, I miss the wonderful staff who took care of Greg 24/7. Most are immigrants who seem to originate from cultures that are comfortable with aging and with touching in comforting ways. The first time I saw a caregiver grasp Greg’s hands reassuringly and speak to him warmly and respectfully (which he responded to with a broad smile), I thought to myself, “I want her to take care of me someday.” They speak to residents as if they were friends and not people whom they had just cleaned up after toileting or spoon-fed like infants. I don’t have many sketches of caregivers because they came and went too quickly, attending to residents as needed.

6/4/26

6/9/26

The exception is Theodore, whom I did sketch a few times. Part of the life enrichment team, Theodore is an angel on earth (a description I’ve often heard applied to nurses). With compassion, tenderness and infinite patience, he makes each resident feel heard, seen and special. I sometimes timed my visits to coincide with his daily meditation hour because I knew I would benefit from his talks as much as the residents would. I will miss him dearly.

This post includes the last sketches I made of Greg’s final community. I thank everyone there for giving me the privilege of being a tiny part of their lives -- one last experience I could share with Greg.

6/19/26

6/22/26

6/26/26

Kerry Park Postcard

 

7/15/26 Kerry Park, Queen Anne neighborhood ("Changing Form" sculpture by Doris Totten Chase)

All the local touring I’d been doing with visiting friends made me a bit sentimental about my beloved hometown. Although it’s not as easy to love Seattle during the Big, Wet Dark, to say it’s the best place on planet Earth in summer is not hyperbole. Everyone who came here from somewhere else agreed. Temps in the mid- to high-70s, mostly sunny, low humidity: Find me a place better than this in summer, and I’ll book a flight. Until then, you’ll find me here (at least until September).

When an errand took me to the Queen Anne neighborhood, I made a stop at Kerry Park to show my love by sketching a scene that postcard photographers adore. If Her Majesty had appeared behind the Space Needle, I would have put her in, but she was hiding behind a thin haze on the horizon.

A Stroll Through Winslow

 

7/14/26 Mt. Baker from Seattle-to-Bainbridge ferry

On the last day visiting friends Cathy and Bettina were in town, we decided we didn’t get enough ferry riding the day before; we took a different ferry to Winslow on Bainbridge Island. (According to several Instagram travel influencers who fell into my feed, riding a ferry is a quintessential, must-do Seattle summer thing. Indeed!)

Enjoying a leisurely brunch on the Streamliner Diner’s porch, strolling through Winslow’s “downtown” (a few blocks long), and popping into charming shops, we were more tourists than sketchers that day. We also visited the Bainbridge History Museum and Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, both of which are free every day. The latter currently has a retrospective show by Carletta Carrington Wilson that especially moved me.

I made only two sketches that day: One was of a huge “retort” (vessel) from the turn of the 20^th century that was used to transport toxic creosote (below). Easily wide enough in diameter for people to walk through and read the placards inside, the retort is a permanent exhibit outside the Bainbridge History Museum.

Creosote retort and a card from  Blackbird Bakery, 
where we all indulged in delish chocolate chip cookies.

The second sketch was of Mt. Baker from the ferry to Bainbridge (above). While not visible from Seattle, Baker is often visible from Edmonds, but I never did catch it from the beach during Sketcher Fest. It makes a nice pairing with the sketch I had made of Mt. Rainier from the Edmonds ferry the day before.

Valkyrie Viking Ship

 

7/13/26 Valkyrie Viking ship moored on Liberty Bay, Poulsbo

On the Monday following Sketcher Fest, USk Seattle led an excursion to the small town of Poulsbo on the Olympic Peninsula. The outing was intended to give visitors still in town for Sketcher Fest a taste of true Pacific Northwest summer entertainment that included a ferry ride.

The highlight of the trip was the opportunity to sketch the Valkyrie Viking ship made with traditional Nordic construction methods. Owner Erik gave us a brief history of the ship, which was built by his family.

On the ferry ride back to Seattle, I caught stunning Mt. Rainier giving everyone aboard her best side.